Grant Cherry, a barrel of talent in a pint-sized body, hangs out with his bandmates, bassist Jake Morris, left, and drummer Gibb Mandish, during a break from a performance at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites.

Grant Cherry, a barrel of talent in a pint-sized body, hangs out with his bandmates, bassist Jake Morris, left, and drummer Gibb Mandish, during a break from a performance at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites.

The budding jazz pianist had barely taken his seat when Burton
blew an achingly high pitch on his saxophone; Grant followed on the
piano with a trill of melodies. Within moments, the pair were
blending harmonies and tearing off on marvelous musical rants.

"I didn't think I had enough repertoire to last me the whole two
hours," Grant said the day after he made that solo debut at Cafe
Tremelo in the Foothills Mall on the last Thursday in July. "I only
made it through because (Burton) had more."

At the age of 14, and with less than three years' experience on
the piano, Grant Cherry is doing something most musicians twice his
age can only dream about.

He's making money playing music.

It's not much money - $50 to $100 depending on the gig - but
it's a milestone for the Sahuaro High School freshman, who has been
playing jazz piano less than three years.

"He's already succeeding in being a professional jazz musician;
he's already making money playing jazz," says his teacher, Brice
Winston of the Tucson Jazz Institute.

"Everybody tells me, 'Here is this 14-year-old who plays like an
adult. He's being given these opportunities that mostly adults
get,' " says his mother and biggest cheerleader, Jane Wallace
Cherry.

The baby-faced Grant, who stands 4 feet 10 inches and looks
younger than he is, shyly brushes off the accolades. When you ask
him to talk about himself - his music or his other interests - he
answers in quick, short sentences.

"I just play the piano," he says. "I just want to be great at
it."

Grant didn't set out to become a jazz pianist. His musical
journey began on the drums when he was 8. He took private lessons
for a couple of years before his mom enrolled him in TJI.

It was there, in the following year, that Grant saw St. Louis
jazz pianist Reggie Thomas perform. Thomas was a guest artist at
the institute. "I was watching him and and I thought, 'Wow, I want
to do that,' " Grant recalls.

So he pulled $400 from his savings and bought a used keyboard.
He doodled around on it for a few months, imitating what he saw on
YouTube videos and improvising what he didn't know. Then he hit up
his family for lessons.

"I'm from the old school. I always thought you started with
classical lessons," says his mother, who signed Grant up with a
teacher who focused on classical music. "But Grant wanted to learn
jazz."

Grant quit the classical teacher and signed on with Winston.

"He was very excited about the music," says Winston, who taught
him music theory and improv. "He's just like a sponge. He's always
ready to learn. He is very self-motivated, and he did a lot of
self-study."

"I think the first thing about Grant that hit me is that he's
got a really high aptitude. He processes stuff really quickly,"
says Pete Swan, who met Grant at Old Pueblo Grill at one of Swan's
Sunday-night jam sessions. He eventually asked Grant to join
in.

"He has really good motor responses. He can convert something
he's thinking about to his hands really quickly," Swan adds. "And
he has a wonderful sense of timing. … It's a really internal sense
of timing. He can learn something really quickly and retain it
fast."

Swan got Grant his first paid gig - a private party at Skyline
Country Club that paid $50 for two or three songs.

Within a year of beginning piano, Grant's talents had outgrown
his keyboard. His parents refinanced their home to buy a barely
used $12,000 Steinway baby grand piano and redesign the living room
to accommodate the showpiece.

Grant, meanwhile, used his performance money - including pay
from his $10-an-hour job over the last year as an accompanist to
TJI vocal ensembles - to buy gigging equipment, including an amp
and music stand.

In his first solo gig at Tremelo, he took home $104; two weeks
later, he collected $92, mostly in tips. Cherry says her son is now
saving for a car.

If you ask Grant where he would like music to take him, he
demures. "I would just like to be playing when I grow up. Nothing
else," he says.

"Of course I would love him to become a doctor, a lawyer or an
engineer," chimes in his mother. "The music business is such a hard
one. But I'm really hoping that he goes on to college to major in
music. He's just so gifted in this area that it would really be a
shame if he did not pursue it."

"This kid has a lot of potential," says Winston. "If he
continues to be as energetic about his (musical education), he can
be something really great."